An Alabama woman on trial for murder in her granddaughter's death called out the child's name time after time as the girl lay on the ground after collapsing, but didn't tell medics the girl had run for hours, according to evidence presented on Tuesday.

Joyce Hardin Garrard, 49, is heard repeatedly calling the name of 9-year-old Savannah Hardin in the more than 11-minute 911 recording played in an otherwise silent courtroom.

The child's stepmother, Jessica Mae Hardin, told the 911 operator the girl had a seizure. Garrard talked in the background.

Jurors heard a 911 during which Joyce Hardin Garrard didn't tell medics that she had made the girl had run for hours and could also be heard asking for 'a smoke' while the child was unconscious

'Savannah, open your eyes,' Garrard is heard saying.

'Savannah. Savannah,' Garrad says.

'How is she doing?' operator Lori Beth Beggs asks.

'We can't get her to come to,' Hardin responds.

Garrard's lawyers haven't denied that the girl ran before her collapse, but the defense said the woman had no intention of harming her granddaughter.

The recording showed Hardin, who is awaiting trial on a murder charge in the girl's death, never told Beggs the child had been running or that she had any previous medical problems.

Share this article

Beggs said the information could have been useful to her treatment. Savannah died in a hospital three days later.

A firefighter who came to the scene said Garrard also never told emergency workers the child had been running.

She 'was telling us she had a seizure and she was trying to get her to respond,' said Justin Hairrell of the Mountainboro Volunteer Fire Department.

The 911 operator said Garrard is heard early in the recording asking for 'a smoke' while the child was unconscious. The defense suggested the woman was actually asking for something to cover the child with, like a small a blanket.

Victim: Garrad allegedly forced her granddaughter, Savannah Hardin (pictured left and right), nine, to run to her death at her home in Etowah County in 2012 after discovering she had lied about eating forbidden chocolates

Also in court on Tuesday, neighbor Jolie Jacobs testified that Savannah was crying and begging to stop before she collapsed.

Prosecutors say Garrard ran 9-year-old Savannah Hardin to death as punishment for a lie three years ago.

Jacobs lived across the street from the girl's home at the time. She said she saw Savannah running and carrying wood as Garrard yelled at her.

'She was crying and begging to stop,' Jacobs said, Savannah fell in apparent exhaustion, still crying. 'Joyce kept telling her to move it.'

Jacobs said that she stood on her porch on several occasions after 6:30 p.m. on February 17, 2012, after she saw Savannah collapse and begin throwing up.

Garrard, she said, tried pouring water in Savannah's mouth and told her, 'You better drink up or you can't go to the bathroom.'

'She was throwing up while she was trying to get water,' Jacobs testified.

Jacobs then said that as light began to fade around sunset, she thought she heard what sounded like Garrard striking the child. She tried to recreate the sound, which she described as 'skin on skin.'

Biting her lip, Jacobs said she decided she had to intervene after about four or five trips to her front porch, and went inside to tell her husband.

By the time they both came back out, medics had arrived. The girl died in a hospital three days later, and Jacobs said she regrets not doing something to help.

'It had gone on long enough,' she said as she blinked away tears. 'I wish I had done something a lot sooner.'

Defense attorney Dani Bone questioned how Jacobs could have seen these events after showing her a paper stating sunset was at 5:30 p.m. that day. 'I know what I saw and heard,' she replied.

The defense denies that Garrard meant to do anything to harm the child.

On Monday prosecutors had compared Garrard, 49, to a drill sergeant. She could face the death penalty or life without parole if convicted.

Assistant district attorney Marcus Reid said during opening statements in a standing-room-only courtroom that jurors would hear from neighbors who say they heard and saw what happened to Savannah the day she died.

Mother and daughter: Savannah (pictured with her mother in a Facebook photo) eventually collapsed and started fitting. She was rushed to a nearby hospital, where she later died from dehydration and low sodium

Defense attorney Dani Bone tried to raise doubt about medical evidence in the case by showing jurors a version of the indictment, which mentioned severe dehydration and seizures.

However, Bone said Savannah died because of a fatally low sodium level. He said the evidence will show the girl had too much water in her system, not that she was dehydrated.

Bone told jurors that prosecutors 'have oversold their case to the world.'

'They're trying to hoodwink you with junk science,' he said. 'Make them prove their case.'

According to prosecutors, neighbors said Garrard yelled at the girl as she ran, forcing her to continue 'like some kind of drill sergeant.' At one point, a neighbor saw the girl vomiting on her hands and knees, begging to stop, Reid said.

When paramedics arrived, they found Savannah on the ground, 'freezing cold to the touch,' her clothes and shoes soaking wet, Reid said. Garrard never told the medics that the girl had been running; she said only that the girl collapsed in the yard.

The 9-year-old was rushed to a Birmingham hospital, where she later died from dehydration and low sodium, a condition common in marathon runners.

Savannah wasn't supposed to eat chocolates because she was on medication for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and had a bladder problem, but she had eaten candy on the school bus the day before she died.

Arrests: Garrard (pictured, left, in her police mugshot) was charged in the fatal February 2012 incident alongside Savannah's stepmother, 27-year-old Jessica Mae Hardin (right). The former's trial began on Monday

Garrard was angry that Savannah ate the candy – 'but she was more upset about the lie,' Reid said.

Surveillance video from a school bus shown to a jury showed Garrard talking with the bus driver, Raenna Holmes, about Savannah taking candy without paying from another student who was selling it.

Garrard told Holmes: 'She's going to run until I tell her to stop. She's gonna learn.'

The women then talk about a bladder condition the girl had and a procedure she had related to that condition. The driver then asks, 'Is she OK?'

Garrard replies: 'She might be when I get about four more bottles of water in her.'

Garrard said Savannah was 'in double trouble' because she took the candy without paying and because she lied about it.

Holmes said in court that she saw the girl picking up sticks in the yard but did not see her running.

'I feel partly responsible. I should have paid for those candy bars,' Holmes said.

Opening statements followed a jury selection process that lasted nearly three weeks. The judge in the case has refused the defense's request to move the trial to a venue where it less well known.

Scene: Gerrard allegedly made her granddaughter carry sticks of wood as she ran to her death at her home (pictured). But defense lawyers are expected to argue that the third-grader's death wasn't Gerrard's fault

This morning, Garrard was seen entering a county courtroom dressed in a pale green jacket and a striped blouse, with a heart-shaped pendant around her neck.

Around 15 family members watched as the defendant was led in handcuffs to her seat at the Etowah County Courthouse. The trial is expected to last a week.

Security is tight for the start of Garrad's trial. Etowah County deputies were pictured using a metal detector to screen anyone entering the courtroom today, while all cellphones have been banned.

This afternoon, prosecutors will put forward their allegations against Garrard, who was charged in the fatal February 2012 incident alongside

Savannah's stepmother, 27-year-old Jessica Mae Hardin, is awaiting trial on a murder charge in the girl's death. Authorities said she failed to intervene while the older woman forced the girl to run.

Savannah lived with her father, who was out of town at the time of her death.

Run to death: Savannah (pictured) suffered from unspecified medical issues that resulted in frequent doctors visits, court documents state. Defense attorneys have said it was her medical condition that caused her death